#SKODAAUTOhelps: ŠKODA AUTO is fully committed to combat the spread of the coronavirus

› Direct financial aid for social services and people in need

› ŠKODA platform HoppyGo makes more than 200 vehicles available for charities, municipalities and volunteers

› Collaboration with the Czech Technical University in Prague to develop and produce reusable FFP3 respirators for hospitals

› The car manufacturer’s all-encompassing commitment to combat COVID-19 runs under the slogan #SKODAAUTOhelps and #SKODAAUTOpomaha

Mladá Boleslav, 30 March 2020 – Joint fight against COVID-19: with several projects underway, ŠKODA AUTO is supporting organisations and institutions, which help contain the spread of the virus within the Czech Republic. To this end, the manufacturer’s car sharing platform HoppyGo has made a fleet of more than 200 vehicles and 150 electric scooters available for charities, volunteers and municipalities – free of charge and for flexible use. ŠKODA has also provided direct, quick and unbureaucratic financial aid to social services and people in need. What’s more, in collaboration with the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics (CIIRC) at the Czech Technical University in Prague, the company has developed a 3D printing process to produce reusable FFP3 respirators. Following certification, the Czech Ministry of Health is now distributing these to doctors, hospitals and nursing staff. These allencompassing support measures provided by the carmaker given the current situation are run under the slogan #SKODAAUTOhelps.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, ŠKODA AUTO is supporting charities, municipalities and volunteers in a fast, unbureaucratic and comprehensive manner: the carmaker has made available more than 200 cars as well as 150 BeRider electric scooters for them. The vehicles are used to deliver medicines and food, among other things. More than 20 cities and organisations already use the fleet of vehicles, including the city of Brno and charities such as Caritas Czech Republic, ADRA, the Red Cross and Sue Ryder.

To ensure this measure could be implemented as quickly as possible, colleagues from different business units have been working in close collaboration. This includes members of staff from ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab, the car sharing service HoppyGo, Uniqway – the car-sharing platform for students – and ŠKODA dealers. HoppyGo is responsible for managing the fleet and regularly disinfects all vehicles with ozone. This particularly fast and efficient cleaning method has been made possible by ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab. On top of that, the ŠKODA team ensures that information on the current locations of the respective cleaning devices is passed on to the relevant partners quickly and nationwide.

The wearing of special protective masks is essential to prevent the coronavirus from spreading, especially for doctors and nursing staff. With its employees’ expertise, ŠKODA is contributing here too. The research team from the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics (CIIRC) of the Czech Technical University in Prague has been supported by ŠKODA AUTO’s development centre in Česana – where work is usually carried out on ŠKODA prototypes and models of future vehicle generations – to develop and implement a 3D printing process for the production of FFP3 respirators.

Not only do these masks boast the highest level of protection but thanks to their replaceable filter, they can also be reused. ŠKODA funded their development too, and production is already running at top speed following the respirators’ certification a few days ago. The produced masks are delivered to the Czech Ministry of Health straight away, and are then distributed to hospitals and doctors. At present, around 60 respirators are produced at ŠKODA AUTO each day; the project is also supported by Czech universities and private companies that have similar printers, leading to a total daily output of several hundred masks.

ŠKODA provides financial support to combat the corona pandemic For people and social services in the regions of its Czech sites, ŠKODA has also made direct financial aid available – to date amounting to ten million Czech korunas. In addition to Mnichovo Hradiště, Bakov nad Jizerou, Bělá pod Bezdězem, Benátky nad Jizerou and Vrchlabí, Rychnov nad Kněžnou and Mladá Boleslav benefit from this too. All of these measures help the people responsible and the municipalities to provide the elderly with food and other everyday products, or to provide urgently needed medical aid.